I’m going ‘Down Under’ tomorrow; Dulles, VA to San Fran to Sydney. What tricks do you all use to fight jet-lag?
Thanks,
Dave from VA
Here’s my regimen:
- Stay awake. Even if it means 30 hours.
- Stay away from caffeine.
- Drink a lot of water.
- Avoid gross food.
- Gameboy Advance.
- MP3 player.
- Laptop.
- Books. Lots of books.
- When you arrive in local zone time don’t go to bed until the normal time to go to bed in that time zone- in other words, if you are destroyed just deal with it until bed time in the new time zone, then get comatose.
Why no sleeping on the plane? I’ve heard it does a body good. I leave San Fran at 10:30 PM and arrive in Sydney at 7:30 AM but your recommending that I stay up all night, why?
DC Pattie
I find that if I sleep on the plane it disrupts my sleep cycle for an additional day. Now given, that means on a 22 hour effective flight you will be pulling an allnighter, and you will likely need a good nights sleep before and after that as well as good diet (enough fiber) and good hydration.
I read some stuff on jet lag, quite a lot actually, and there are conflicting opinions. Most times when I go on a trip I am just so excited I don’t sleep well anyway. I have no problem sleeping on planes, but I also rarely get 13-18 hours to sit quietly, write, read a book, play race cars or whatever- so that is kind of an amusement for me also. I love airplanes so I like to get up and walk around the plane when everypone is sleeping. On a 747-400 there is a lot of ground to cover if you can sneak your way upstairs.
Also, do whatever you have to do to get exit row seating if you aren’t business class or first class. The extra leg room is key.
I don’t know the time difference between Sydney and Taupo/Auckland, but the easist way to cure that jetlag is a change in perspective. Rather than Taupo being 21 hours ahead, look at it as 3 hours behind. Same as Hawaii. Your body doesn’t care that the calendar says Tuesday, only when the sun comes up and goes down.
Have a good race.